A Sleeping Friend
by intuwisdom
Summary: It's Hajime's first day out of the hospital after the Island Life of Mutual Killing, and he knows exactly what he's going to do first. Rated T for death mentions and the like. Couldn't trace the artist of the cover art, possibly by Shiro-Chan on Pinterest.


Despite what Hajime had been told in the Neo World Program, he never felt even an ounce of despair within him after finally waking up. Not while he was confined to a hospital bed to regain strength, anyway. It had already been a month and a half since the Island Life of Mutual Killing; two weeks of it had been spent in bed, the rest of them spent hobbling around what he recognised as the third island. Even though he remembered Ibuki and Hiyoko's brutal murders at the hands of Mikan, the despair didn't come. He was alive, after all, and that was what they had wanted; Gundam had said so himself. He couldn't let his friend's final words go unnoticed, after all.

Today was to be his first day where he was permitted to leave the hospital. The Future Foundation had argued against it, intially. They had said that there was a chance that they were all still Ultimate Despair - despite Hajime having asked for his hairstyle to be changed to his own as soon as he could sit up, so he no longer looked like Izuru - and that they would wipe out the Future Foundation's research. Overly paranoid though they most likely were, Hajime knew they weren't being unfair. After all, Fuyuhiko, Akane and Sonia were still extremely mentally unstable after losing the ones they held dearest to them. Kazuichi didn't seem that affected, though Sonia's depressed attitude had certainly rubbed off on him a little. Hajime, though, never let it get to him. Even though he was no longer Izuru, the alterations made to his brain were for the most part permanent, and so Izuru's talents remained within him. He never utilised them - only used them to remind himself, _I am the Ultimate Hope, I need to stay strong so that my friends can find their own hope again!_

Hajime knew where he'd be heading first. Future Foundation hadn't been that far off the mark, in fact; he was going to the central island, where their headquarters were located. He wasn't going there, though. He would be heading to the building to the right. The Neo World Program's control centre, and where his comatose friends lay silently. There had to be a possibility of them waking up. They had access to medical technology that over 75% of the population of Japan did not, after all. There was no way they couldn't wake up. Hajime had already lost Chiaki, how could he keep being one of Nagito's precious 'symbols of hope' if Nagito himself wasn't there to keep him going in his own moderately creepy way?

As he dwelled on this thought some more, he managed to grab a pair of crutches and hobble outside the hospital (thankfully, they were all downstairs; Akane and Sonia had been sharing a room). He averted his eyes from the bright sunlight for a second, and then continued down the familiar path to the brand-new bridge to the central island. The bridge in question hadn't been there at first. As the handbook Sonia found during the Island Life of Mutual Killing had said, the only way to travel between the islands had been via boat. The bridges had been put there temporarily, for the survivors' convenience more than anything else. Hajime could smell the sea salt in the air, reminding him of when they first began the Neo World Program, just before Monokuma screwed everything up. Monokuma, and Junko Enoshima, were both dead for good now. There was no reason to worry.

He could see it now, the dark grey building just outside of Jabberwock Park. It was quite tall, to say that it was a single-storey building (as far as he knew), most likely to house all the hardware required to run a program like the Neo World Program. He could hear the machinery from the edge of the island; a constant whirring sound, which was soft but somehow incredibly annoying. It reminded him of something, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what, exactly, that something was. Then again, all six of the islands reminded him of something. The hospital, where Mikan had caught Despair Disease and plotted to murder Ibuki. Jabberwock Park, where Monokuma had first appeared before them. The volcano on the first island, where Teruteru had been executed, and the beach house door that Kazuichi had found Mahiru's body slumped against. Makoto had offered to host a 'Welcome Back to the Real World' party to get their spirits up, but after the Ultimate Imposter's death, Hajime knew he could never attend another party for a while.

As he stepped inside, a blast of cold air hit him, straight in the face. Most likely, to stop anyone from overheating; they were sealed in pale green pods, with only just enough room to breathe in. It was no wonder the air conditioning was turned up so high.

The first pod he approached of the ten closed ones was Peko's. She seemed so lifeless, something that she most certainly was not. She was the Ultimate Swordswoman and Fuyuhiko's 'tool', as she called herself. To see her like this, unmoving, would be like seeing Kyoko Kirigiri wearing a dress. He'd known her for about a month, and the only clothes Kyoko wore were formal ones, like blazers, ties and fitted trousers. She did not wear dresses - and Peko should not have stopped moving like this.

Heartbreaking though the sight of Peko was, he didn't allow himself to feel any despair. There was one person he had to see before that happened. Slowly, he walked past Gundam and Nekomaru, past the pod that Kazuichi had been in, until he finally arrived at the one he'd been searching for. Nagito's.

His snow white hair was fanned out in all directions, as always, his eyes closed. He seemed so serene. At first sight, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. But he was too thin. Almost a skeleton, like Hajime had been a month and a half ago. His coat and t-shirt hung off him like they were ten sizes too big. This wasn't the Nagito he knew, or the Nagito he wanted back so desperately. Hajime wanted to open the pod and take his hand, clutch it like the world was ending - and for Hajime, it really was. First Chiaki had turned out to not even exist, and now Nagito was also lost to him. Perhaps, if he was still conscious in cyberspace and Chiaki's AI had not been deleted, they were together, waiting for them to be able to see Hajime again.

He curled his fists into a ball, trying to refrain himself from hitting something. It was all so damn unfair, he realised. His personality had been overwritten by an apathetic genius, who had been manipulated into murdering at least ten people - whose blood was now on his hands. He'd then been able to revert back to Hajime Hinata, only to lose most of the friends he was able to make, almost lose himself again and now he couldn't see the two most important people in his life again. What had he done to deserve this?

He stood there for a while, tears rolling down his face. He didn't notice when Sonia joined him, or Kazuichi, Fuyuhiko or Akane. They all stood there in near silence for a while, finally letting the despair out that they had been keeping pent up, until Kazuichi collapsed, and the five were ordered back to their hospital beds. The next day, they'd finally be able to come to terms with their grief, Hajime hoped.


End file.
